Influenza hits hard worldwide

Europe, Middle East join U.S. in massive illness

Published: Tuesday, January 11, 2000

LONDON {AP} Overburdened British hospitals canceled operations to make room for flu victims, Israeli doctors treated patients in hallways and cafeterias on Monday, and the Dutch and Danes shared the flu misery that is making its way across the United States.

Parts of Europe and the Middle East have been hard hit this year by influenza, which kills thousands of vulnerable people every year and leaves millions more ill.

In Britain, Health Secretary Alan Milburn said Monday the number of flu cases had quadrupled in the last month and if the outbreak didn't peak soon, "we could be heading for the worst epidemic in the last decade."

And that's not counting the large number of cases that go uncounted because victims turn to pharmacists or a National Health Service help-line for advice, rather than going to a doctor, said Liam Donaldson, the government's chief medical officer.

Israeli hospitals have increased their staff and many are operating at 175 percent capacity because of the flu outbreak, the Health Ministry said.

At Laniado Hospital in the coastal Israeli town of Netanya, Dr. Gershon Lieber said patients were turned away overnight.

In the United States, flu that struck the western states hard last month has been making its way along the East Coast. By the weekend, 19 states, including Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Virginia, had reported widespread or regional flu outbreaks.